Overview - Delivering Industry 4.0 Together 

                                                                                                                                                                                                           Image Added

Edge computing is a challenging distributed computing problem.The fragmentation and distribution of industrial data, networking, processing, security and storage makes managing it complicated.  Simplifying industrial IoT application and system development with a ubiquitous open source stack, standards, and community is our mission.

Fledge is an open source framework and community for the Industrial Edge. Architected for rapid integration of any IIoT device, sensor or machine all using a common set of application, management and security REST APIs with existing industrial "brown field" systems and clouds. 

Fledge edge services include: Collect Data from any/all sensors, aggregate/combine/organize data. edge based alerting/anomaly detection/machine learning (TensorflowLIte, OpenVino), transform/filter data in flight, buffer data, analyze/visualize edge data,  and deliver data to multiple local/cloud destinations.

Image Removed

Fledge developers and operators no longer face complexity and fragmentation issues when building their IIoT applications as they gather and process more sensor data to automate and transform business. Fledge’s modern pluggable architecture eliminates the data silos often found in plants, factories and mines.  By using a consistent set of RESTful APIs to develop, manage and secure IIoT applications, Fledge creates a unified solution.

Image Removed

Architecture

Image Removed

Components in blue are plugins. Plugins are light-weight modules that enable Fledge to be extended. There are a variety of types of plugins: south-facing, north-facing, storage engine, filters, event rules and event delivery mechanisms. Plugins can be written in python (for fast development) or C++ (for high performance). Components in green are microservices. They can co-exist in the same operating environment or they can be distributed across multiple environments.

Fledge Core

Coordinates all of the Fledge operations. Only one Core service can be active at any time. Core functionality includes scheduling, configuration, monitoring, data APIs backup and restore, auditing, certificate storage, user management and asset data.

Storage Layer

Provides two principal functions: a) maintenance of Fledge configuration and run-time state, and b) storage/buffering of asset data. The type of storage engine is pluggable, so in installations with a small footprint, a plugin for SQLite may be chosen, or in installations with a high number of concurrent requests and larger footprint Postgresql may be suitable. In micro installations, for example on Edge devices, in-memory temporary storage may be the best option.

Southbound Microservices

Offer communication of data and metadata between Edge devices, such as sensors, actuators or PLCs and Fledge. Smaller systems may have this service installed onboard Edge devices. Southbound components are typically deployed as always-running services, which continuously wait for new data. Alternatively, they can be deployed as single-shot tasks, which periodically spin up, collect data and spin down.

Northbound Microservices

Offer bi-directional communication of data and metadata between the Fledge platform and larger systems located locally or in the cloud. Larger systems may be private and public Cloud data services, proprietary solutions or Fledge instances with larger footprints. Northbound components are typically deployed as one-shot tasks, which periodically spin up and send data which has been batched, then spin down. However, they can also be deployed as continually-running services.

Filters

Filters are plugins which modify streams of data that flow through Fledge. They can be deployed at ingress (in a South service), or at egress (in a North service). Typically, ingress filters are used to transform or enrich data, and egress filters are used to reduce flow to northbound pipes and infrastructure, i.e. by compressing or reducing data that flows out. Multiple filters can be applied in “pipelines”, and once configured, pipelines can be applied to multiple south or north services. 

Event Engine

Maintains zero or more rule/action pairs. Each rule subscribes to desired asset data, and evaluates it. If the rule triggers, its associated action is executed.

REST API

The Fledge API provides methods to administer Fledge, and to interact with the data inside it.

Graphical User Interface

A GUI enables administration of Fledge. All GUI capability is through the REST API, so Fledge can also be administered through scripts or other management tools. The GUI provides:

• Health: See if services are responsive. See data that’s flowed in and out of Fledge
• Assets & Readings: analytics of data in Fledge
• South: manage south services
• North: manage north services
• Notifications: manage event engine rules and delivery mechanisms
• Certificate Store: manage certificates
• Backup & Restore: backup/restore Fledge
• Logs: see system, notification, audit logging information

Cross-LF Edge Collaboration

Fledge works closely with Project EVE, which  provides system and orchestration services and a container runtime for Fledge applications and services.  Together industrial operators can build, manage, secure and support all their non-SCADA, non-DCS connected machines, IIoT and sensors as they scale. 

Fledge is also integrated with Akraino Edge Stack, as  both projects support the roll out 5G and private LTE networks.

It also complements EdgeX Foundry on the industrial side. EdgeX has extensive control features, focused more where data management and integrated control are required and Fledge specifically works when data from brown field systems is not connected to the primary control systems (often serviced by RBM) and environmental/situational/safety sensors. 

Contributed by Dianomic and formerly known as “Fog Lamp,” Fledge developers build smarter, better, more cost-effective industrial manufacturing solutions to accelerate Industrial 4.0 adoption. 

The Industrial Edge has unique distributed computing, protocol, data, ML, security and integration challenges not found in retail, consumer or other edge markets. 

Fledge is the Linux Foundation's Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) edge platform and community architected for and built by industrial users, machine builders, smart industrial sensor suppliers, industrial software suppliers, system integrators and cloud operators. The Fledge project was seeded by Dianomic, Google, AVEVA/OSIsoft, Teledyne/FLIR and JEA (8th largest utility in the U.S.). Our community is growing fast with over 60 contributors. Fledge is also adopted by LF Energy (Fledge Power Project), OSDU and is being evaluated by CESMII.    

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Some quick links:

For Machine Builders, System Integrators, Smart Sensor Suppliers, Industrial Software Suppliers and Contributors

• Architecture
• User Documentation
• Developer Documentation
• Get the Code

For Users and No Code Application Developers 

• User Documentation
• Fledge - Edge Application Development.pdf

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back To The Overview 

Fledge has been deployed in industrial operations since 2019!    Some of our public use cases include:

• JEA - Energy substation monitoring and automation
• RTE  - Energy RTU server gateway (IEC104, IEC61850, TASE 2, OpenADR) 
• General Atomics - Military drone manufacturing
• Neuman Aluminum - Aluminum part manufacturing
• Honda Racing - Digital Twin machine optimizations
• Opus One/UC Davis - Wine production and safety

Some of our private use cases include:

• Large gas pipeline operator - Remote monitoring stations where SCADA doesn't reach
• Pharmaceutical company - Redundant PLC connections and data transformations to historians with HA for compliance
• Major chemical company - Multi-protocol gateway in the cloud connecting 200,000 LoRaWan sensors and API gateway connecting cloud services to historians
• Midwest electric generator - Replace route based monitoring in gas turbine plants
• Large food processor - Centrifuge optimization using ML with vibration and PLC data
• Small engine manufacturer - Monitor robot and CNC process for real-time part quality inspection with track and trace integrated with MS Azure and historian
• Amusement park solar farm - solar tracker monitoring 

Strategic Collaborations

• AVEVA - Integrates data with PI, AVEVA Data Hub, pulls data from PI
• ACDP - MS Azure Integration
• Beckhoff - Collects data from PLCs
• Cisco - Operates in Cisco containers
• FLIR - Connects, collects and integrates FLIR cameras, Spinnaker for Computer Vision applications, REST for data feeds
• Google - Integrates Google's IoT Core, GC Pub/Sub, TensorFlow, Tensorflow Lite, AutoML, ML Edge
• HarperDB - Integrates data with DB
• Nexcom -J1939 and J1708 integrations, Coral integration
• Nokia - Integrates NDAC private LTE and 5G
• ThinkIQ - Integrates
• Wago - Collects data from PLCs, operates in container
• In Progress
  • AWS Sitewise Integration

We invite you to use Fledge and contribute to the Fledge Project.  And, we look forward to delivering the Industrial 4.0 vision together. 

Collect, Transform,Integrate - Industrial IoT Fundamentals

Fledge connects to all OT data sources (PLCs, DCS, CNC, robots, sensors, etc) supporting the many legacy, current and emerging protocols, networks and methods found in industrial use.   The data types from these machines goes beyond time-series data including image, vibration, radio metric and more.   

Second, Fledge collects and aggregates this data on the edge.  

Third, Fledge transforms, processes, filters, stores, analyzes, alerts and notifies on the edge.   Applications may be as simple as converting celsius to Fahrenheit or multi-protocol gateway transformations that map data from different schemas/protocols or as complex as ML/AL and computer vision detecting anomalies or optimizing operations from the edge.     

Fourth, Fledge has bi-directional write capability for set-point control.  Using Linux, this control function is not intended for RTOS applications.  However, it is suitable for writing PLC instructions or sub-second control functions.

Last, Fledge Integrates the data to any and multiple destinations simultaneously creating a smart secure and scalable OT data fabric from sensors and machines to industrial systems and clouds. 

Industry 4.0 Requires a 4.0 Edge

Image Added

Fledge -  The Open Source Industry 4.0 Edge Governed by the Linux Foundation

Fledge developers and operators no longer face complexity and fragmentation issues when building their IIoT applications as they gather and process more machine and sensor data to automate and transform business. Fledge’s modern pluggable architecture eliminates the data silos often found in plants, factories and mines.  By using a consistent set of RESTful APIs to develop, manage and secure IIoT applications, Fledge creates a unified, scalable, manageable and secure converged OT-IT edge solution.

Join Us as our community delivers the benefits of a shared open source stack to OT users and suppliers sharing the Industry 4.0 Vision. 

• Quick Start Guide

• Architecture

• Community

• Use Cases

• Cross-LF Edge Collaboration